Editor’s Note: Rev. Philip Vinod Peacock, general secretary of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), addressed the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church in North America prior to the latter voting to leave the WCRC. Below is the text of that speech.
Mr. President, General Secretary, delegates of Synod, sisters and brothers in Christ,
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Allow me first to express my gratitude for the opportunity to address this Synod, and for the long and faithful witness of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. The CRCNA has made an extraordinary contribution to the life of the global church through mission, theological reflection, education, diaconal service, and ecumenical engagement. Across many parts of the world, churches have been strengthened by your partnership, your generosity, and your witness to Jesus Christ. Over these past days I have witnessed the discernment of this Synod, and I have admired the prayerfulness and the seriousness with which you have sought together the mind of Christ.
I come before you not only as the General Secretary of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, but as a fellow Christian and a fellow member of the Reformed family. I come not to relitigate questions that this Synod has weighed with seriousness and prayer, but to speak about communion: what it means for churches to remain in fellowship with one another as members of the one body of Christ. 
The World Communion of Reformed Churches is not a church over churches. We do not govern our member churches, determine their doctrine, or diminish their autonomy. We are a communion of churches who freely choose to walk together in common witness, mutual learning, and shared service to the gospel.
The word communion itself is important. Communion is not the same as agreement. If communion required complete agreement on every matter, there could be no communion at all. Communion exists precisely because Christians and churches continue to discern together the leading of the Holy Spirit while confessing the same Lord. The New Testament bears witness to communities wrestling with disagreement, and again and again the apostolic word calls the church not first to uniformity, but to faithfulness, to charity, and to unity in Christ.
Our tradition has long understood itself through the phrase ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei, the church reformed and always being reformed according to the Word of God. This phrase is often misunderstood. It does not mean that the church should endlessly change with the spirit of the age. Nor does it mean that the church should abandon what it has faithfully received. It is a confession that the church belongs not to itself but to Jesus Christ, who continually calls the people of God to renewed faithfulness through Scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 
At the heart of our tradition lies a profound confidence: that God has spoken fully in Jesus Christ, to whom Holy Scripture bears faithful witness, and that in him we encounter the truth by which all else is measured. Yet that same tradition teaches us, with Calvin, that God accommodates the divine self to our weakness, and that we who receive this Word remain finite, fallible, and always in need of correction. Our confidence rests not in the perfection of our own understanding, but in the faithfulness of the One who reveals God’s self to us.
When the Apostle Paul says that now we see in a mirror dimly, he is not doubting that there is a face to be seen. He is confessing that the Word stands over us, judging and reforming even our most cherished certainties. To be Reformed, therefore, is not only to confess; it is also to listen. This humility does not weaken conviction. It sanctifies it.
I want to be clear about something, because honesty is the truest form of respect between sisters and brothers. I do not hear the concerns raised in this Synod as a distaste for difference. I hear in them the desire of faithful people to be obedient to Scripture and to Christ. That desire I honor, because I share it. The question before us was never whether to be faithful. It is whether faithfulness requires us to walk apart.
And just as I honor the discernment of this Synod, I would ask you to honor ours. The communion to which I belong has also discerned, in conscience and through prayer, commitments that it holds as matters of faithfulness and justice. Among them is our conviction regarding the full dignity and calling of women in the church and in the world. We do not hold this lightly, and we cannot unsay what we believe the Spirit has shown us. I name it not to reopen the argument, but because we would not honor you by pretending our convictions are smaller than they are. Respect between churches is not the absence of conviction. It is the willingness to remain in relationship while holding it.
Perhaps this is one of the gifts of communion. We remain at the table not because we have resolved every difference, but because we trust that God is not finished with any of us. We continue to speak, to listen, to pray, and to discern together, believing that the Spirit who has guided the church through the centuries has not ceased to guide it today. 
Our Lord prayed that his followers may be one, so that the world may believe. Our unity is therefore not merely institutional. It is missional. At a time when the world is increasingly marked by polarization, fragmentation, and division, there is something profoundly countercultural in churches choosing to remain in relationship across their differences. To do so is not a sign of weakness. It is an act of discipleship and a witness to the reconciling work of God in Jesus Christ.
I recognize that this Synod carries significant responsibilities and must act according to conscience and conviction. Whatever decision you make will be received seriously and respectfully. Yet I would humbly ask that, in your deliberations, you weigh not only the differences that separate us, but the witness we have borne together, the friendships we have forged, the ministries we have shared, and the possibilities that remain when churches continue to walk together in faith.
For communion is not ultimately our achievement. It is God’s gift. We do not create the unity of the church; we receive it from Christ, who through his life, death, and resurrection has already made us one.
And because this unity is God’s gift before it is our task, no decision taken in this hall can finally undo it. Whatever you choose, you will not cease to be our sisters and brothers in Christ, and the door of this communion will not be closed by us.
For we trust that the God who has begun a good work in us will bring it to completion in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Whatever is decided here, I pray that it may be marked by charity, by wisdom, and by grace, and that above all we may continue to recognize one another as those who seek, however imperfectly, to follow Jesus Christ faithfully in our time.
May the Spirit guide your deliberations, grant you wisdom, and lead us all more deeply into the truth and love of God.
Thank you.
20 Responses
Beautiful.
Sadly his respectful appeal was ignored. I wish synod had spoken to him with the grace he addressed to them.
I so agree.
It is not their way.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to read Rev. Peacock’s wise and gracious address. Thank you for sharing it!
I am afraid grace and kindness are no longer characteristic of the CRC.
There is so much biblical/theological truth in this statement. And so much grace. Thank you, Rev. Peacock. Despite Synod’s actions, many of us still celebrate the organic communion with you in Christ to which you refer.
Yes, Anita, Rev. Peacock’s address was wise and gracious, and, I think, profoundly biblical. One wonders what part of that address was ignored or rejected by the synodical delegates.
In the face of the wise and winsome message by the Rev. Peacock, the message of this synod in voting to leave the World Communion of Reformed Churches follows the same template as its recent messages to former CRC officebearers and congregations not in full agreement: “If you are not in full agreement with us, we cannot be in communion with you.” By this standard, what other relationships beg for regular evaluation? Annual renewal of professions of faith? Periodic evalaution of marriage vows? Friendship performance evaluations?
Amen to Rev. Peacock’s words.
Reading this gracious post makes me even more sad (upset? frustrated? angry?) over the decision of the CRC Synod to break off from the larger body.
Thank you Rev Peacock for your sincere, loving, Christian thoughts
I am saddened by the decision of the CRC synod
Thank you for sharing Rev. Peacock’s address to CRC Synod. What made the address by Rev. Peacock all the more impactful and gracious , it followed the remarks by delegates. Not included in this post, during the address, after speaking words of gratitude for the CRC, Rev. Peacock let it be known that he stood before Synod sad and in pain, partly because union is breaking and also that he was grossly misrepresented.
I hear in this heartfelt and eloquent appeal the voice of the Reformed pastors and theologians and friends who showed me what it means to follow Jesus, and the spirit of mutual respect and humble faithfulness that was once a mark of CRC. What a tragedy that it fell on deaf ears, and that Synod instead followed the adage (which of the prophets was it who said this?), “My way or the highway.”
I’ll just heartily and sadly Amen Trynette’s and David Hoekema’s comments.gekr
Unfortunately the CRC has replaced following Jesus with following their political leaders. The propaganda masters behind the popular leaders have discovered that what people want most is to feel superior while not having to personally sacrifice anything. This explains why both anti-LGBTQ and abortion are the driving issues of the modern church. Both allow you to judge other people as sinners and feel superior that you are not like them while also not having to personally sacrifice anything. It also explains why immigrants are vilified even while Jesus directly commands us the Love them. It is counter to both impulses. To truly love immigrants you need to give up your false idol that you are better then them and you need to sacrifice a small portion of your wealth.
At this point the CRC is not a church anymore, but a social club. While there are still good people within it (much like many atheist are good people as well) , the driving force is how do they make the conservative majority members feel comfortable and unchallenged. Any reminder that they may be wrong is forcefully rejected such as the World Communion of Reformed Churches or the previous Banner mandate.
I have great respect for the words and attitudes of Mr. Peacock whom I have not had the privilege of meeting personally. (I would love to do so, though.) I’m waiting for the people who misrepresented him to publicly apologize and ask forgiveness. One of my acquaintance suggests that the apology by synodical officers is similar to parents apologizing for their children, who remain mute.
“Yes” to grace.
I add nothing to these comments but my heartfelt thanks. Well done!!!
I am the former (and last) General Secretary of the Reformed Ecumenical Council, which along with World Alliance of Reformed Churches was one of the two bodies that merged to form the WCRC in 2010. In the discussions leading to that merger, all of us were convinced that the two themes of Communion and Justice. These themes were present in the basis and history of both organizations, though one might see more talk of Communion in Unity from the REC, and Unity through the struggles for Justice in the WARC.
I resonate deeply with the words of Philip Peacock. With his own background in the work of Justice and Mission, he brings some of the best of both traditions to life in the WCRC. Though I am no longer in the CRCNA, as a member in a congregation that left, I know the immense contribution the CRCNA. made in the founding of the WCRC just a few years ago. The leadership of Peter Borgdorff through that process is widely known and recognized. The CRCNA was also instrumental in the founding of the REC in 1946, and it should have recognized its own voice echoed in the words of Rev. Peacock. It is a sad day in our common ecumenical history.
I too was moved by Rev. Peacock’s gracious and biblically sound words about the communion of believers. And was momentarily shocked by a Synod that would vote to disengage from the WCRC. Have they no ears to hear? I am grieved by what is happening within the governing bodies of the CRC. Their renewed stringency and desire for purity is missing the mark. I was reminded this week of Paul’s words from Galatians 5:1-6 where Paul concludes this section by writing : “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”